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Job Seeker Journal: Linda’s Final Thoughts

Throughout this year’s Baseball Winter Meetings in Nashville, four attendees of the PBEO Job Fair kept a journal chronicling their employment seeking experiences. (Meet them all HERE).

Now that it’s all said and done, Linda Le offers a poolside perspective on what the experience meant to her and fills us in on her still uncertain plans for 2013. Follow Linda on Twitter @MsLinda_Le, and read her other entries here:

As I write my final thoughts on the Winter Meetings, I’m actually lounging poolside in the Dominican Republic. Some may call it a family trip but I like to label it a scouting trip for the next Jose Bautista or Jose Reyes.

Attending the Winter Meetings for the first time was a very exciting experience. While I was there to attend the Job Fair there were other various aspects to enjoy and experience, which included connecting with other job seekers as well as baseball executives.

Going into Nashville I knew I might run into a couple of challenges. One factor being that I did not have a great wealth of baseball knowledge under my belt compared to the other job seekers. I grew up watching baseball with my brother and father but I can’t recall every stat there is to know. If I could do that then I would have specifically pursued a career in baseball scouting or become an analyst. Taking part in the Business of Baseball Workshop on the first day helped me realize there’s more of a need to focus on the business side of baseball than it is to just be a fan of the sport.

The second challenge I thought I would encounter is the fact that I was a female trying to break into an industry made up mostly of men. During the Winter Meetings, I did feel like a unicorn being only one of the few women attending but that quickly turned into something I embraced as I felt that people would see me as someone that was easy to approach and talk to – case in point, every night at the Opryland drinking at one of the bars in the resort. Oh how liquid courage seems so appropriate at a place where the ratio of men to women is close to 100 to 1.

As a follow-up from my last post where an offer was extended to me, compensation and housing was still being negotiated. The GM has since indicated that housing could not be secured at the start of the internship, which at that point was the only compensation available. I have since declined that opportunity but the GM had indicated of course that if anything changes then we would reconnect again.

After returning home from the Winter Meetings in Nashville I was contacted by another Minor League team in regards to a Community Relations internship. I am currently still in talks to see what may come out of this encounter.

Overall I view my time spent in Nashville as only a positive experience and I will be definitely attending in Orlando in 2013. I believe that anyone looking to break into the world of professional baseball should consider attending the Winter Meetings. I’ve met many people who have been attending for several years, even a couple of people who have been going for as long as I’ve been alive (I’m in my twenties). Even if you walk away with no offers, you will still leave with great memories of meeting new people and of course staying connected can ultimately lead to great career prospects.

See you in Orlando!

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Thanks to Linda for sharing her perspective throughout the process. Here’s hoping we’ll be seeing her at a Minor League ballpark in 2013.

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